Earlier this year, the US announced it would impose import taxes on aluminium – including but not exclusively those from China.

Beijing has since responded with retaliatory tariffs of its own against the US on a range of goods, including pork and wine.

The US also claims that China has unfair intellectual property practices, such as those that have allegedly pressurised US companies into sharing technology with Chinese firms when doing business in the country.

Beijing, meanwhile, continues to claim that the US is dumping other products at cheaper-than-market prices into China, which is hurting Chinese farmers and manufacturers.